Welcome to the Pickle Madness Weekly!

A pickleball paddle fanatic’s review of the Prokennex Pro Spin, pickleball adventures in serving, and more!

The subject matter of this newsletter is of course pickleball, but indulge us, if you will, dear reader, in a brief diversion into the national pastime of baseball. Let’s go back to the 2000 season, to a June game between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox. With two outs in the fourth inning, White Sox player Greg Norton hit a grounder toward Yankee second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, who scooped up the ball and fired it toward first base. We say “toward” and not “to,” because, alas – the ball sailed over the first baseman and went several rows into the stands, where it came to rest only after hitting then-sports broadcaster Keith Olbermann’s mother “right between the eyes,” according to another broadcaster.

“Even Olbermann’s Mom Not Safe From Knoblauch,” a Los Angeles Times headline mercilessly sniped. Noted Keith Olbermann, “Her face is a little puffy and she expects a shiner. Her eyeglasses were broken, as was her confidence in Knoblauch.”

The same might have been said for Knoblauch’s confidence in himself. Once considered one of the game’s best fielders, Knoblauch in 1999 began to suffer from the yips – defined by Wikipedia as “a sudden and unexplained loss of ability to execute certain skills in experienced athletes.” His errors at second base doubled from 13 in 1998 to 26 in 1999, and by the time he accidentally beaned Mother Olbermann – not even halfway through the 2000 season – he had 10 throwing errors. Unable to regain his once-sound throwing form, Knoblauch retired from baseball in 2003.

We here at Pickle Madness – okay, me specifically – can empathize, in a way, with Chuck Knoblauch. For at some point earlier this summer, my serve began to exhibit Knoblauchian inconsistency – whack, it’s wide by several feet! Whack, it’s into the net! Whack, it’s an inadvertent “nasty Nelson!” You name the error, and my serve was guilty of it.

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If you know anything about ProKennex paddles you know to expect a thin paddle, .43 inches thick with an 11mm core to be exact, engineered with micro-tungsten beads inside the handle to reduce vibration. This reduction in vibration, a 43% reduction according to an independent study done by MIT, is to protect your arm from injury thereby preventing or lessening pain, otherwise known as pickleball elbow.

Aside from the vibration-reducing technology, what makes the Pro Spin different from most other pickleball paddles? Strings. That’s right, we are talking pickleball and not tennis, but yet I said strings. That’s because the Pro Spin has 21 strings embedded in the face of the paddle which are combined with a Webspun textured surface to produce maximum spin. The Pro Spin is a single-piece paddle with a graphite inlay that, according to ProKennex, makes this paddle “virtually indestructible.” The Pro Spin has a replaceable Air-O-Guard bumper edge, and a cushion grip on the 5.12-inch handle. The average weight is 7.6 oz which puts this paddle on the lighter side.

Weight: 7.6 oz

Length: 15.67 inches

Width: 7.6 inches

Thickness: 0.43 inches

Handle Length: 5.12 inches

Color: Bright Orange and Light Blue

First Impressions

This paddle was what I expected in terms of aesthetic and feel- light and thin. I was really curious how the strings embedded in the surface would affect spin. I did notice right away on serves and drives there was added spin. In fact, my favorite thing to do with this paddle was hit drives. The lightness makes this paddle very easy to maneuver on the court and when I was using it, I felt I had very quick hands at the net. However, there is much more pop to this paddle than thicker paddles, which made resets less accurate. I had to focus on control for the soft game. The handle was small so for me I needed to add overgrip to make it more comfortable in my hand.

The Pro Spin delivers on the vibration reduction for me. Usually, if I play for over two hours, I can start to feel it in my forearm. With the ProKennex Pro Spin, I played for almost three hours straight and had no arm soreness at all.

One added observation that doesn’t affect play at all, is the color scheme of the Pro Spin. The bright orange and blue seem to be a love-it-or-hate-it situation. I played with this paddle at 5 different places, at every place I had people comment that they loved the colors and others that definitely did not!

Overall the ProKenenx Pro Spin is a solid paddle with good power and spin, but lacking in control. If you enjoy the Pro Spin’s color scheme and want a paddle that won’t hurt your elbow, this might be the paddle for you. The Pro Spin retails for $220 USD.

You can purchase the ProKennex Pro Spin paddle HERE.

Rule Review of the Week

Need one of pickleball’s confusing rules cleared up? Let us know and we’ll include it in next week’s issue.

Out calls when teammates disagree.

 6.D.3. The opponent gets the benefit of the doubt on line calls made. Any ball that cannot be called “out” will be considered “in.” A player cannot claim a reply because the ball was not seen if there is uncertainty.

6.D.7. All “out” calls must be made prior to the ball being hit by the opponent of before the ball becomes dead.

6.D.8. In doubles play, if one player calls the ball “out” and the partner calls it “in,” then doubt exists, and the team’s call will be “in.” Any player may appeal a call to the referee. If the referee did not see the ball, the ball is considered in.

This situation happens quite often in recreational play, where there is no referee. Many rec players refer to this saying, “When in doubt call it out!” But while it lacks the poetic rhythm of the popular rec saying, the rule itself is pretty clear – if the receiving team disagrees on the call, then the call is “in.” The team that hit the ball has no say in the call, even if they swear they saw it in clearly.

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See you next week!